Growing Garlic at Home

How to Plant Garlic and How to Use It In Your Kitchen

With nearly 600 varieties of garlic available today, the plain paper-white garlic available in every grocery store might start to lose its appeal. Growing garlic takes a little more effort and know-how than selecting it at the store, so read on to find out how to become a grower and a connoisseur of fresh garlic…

Growing garlic is easy and fun. And garlic fresh from your own garden is as delightful as home-grown tomatoes. Once you try it, you’ll never go back.

There are two basic types of garlic: hard-necked and soft-necked. Within those types are nearly 600 varieties, most of which can be grown in your home garden.

The most popular hard-necked varieties are Asiatic, Creole, Marbled Purple Stripe, Purple Stripe, Porcelain and Rocambole. The soft-necked varieties – artichoke and silverskin – are the ones most commonly found in grocery stores.

If you prefer the type you buy at your grocery store, simply separate the cloves and plant them one by one in your garden plot.

If you’re more adventurous and would like to try other varieties from all around the world, it’s best to get bulbs from a mail-order company specializing in garlic. They generally have much wider selections, and easy-to-use, informative Internet sites where you can order them online.

Some sites that specialize in organic varieties are: www.thegarlicstore.com, www.greenmountaingarlic.com and www.garlicfarm.ca. These – and many other sites you can find with a quick internet search – all offer information about how to grow garlic, including planting your new garlic crop, including selecting your seed or bulbs, preparing the soil, mulching and more.

Don’t break apart the cloves until you are ready to put them in the ground. If you do, your bulbs will dry up and not be viable. Prepare the soil before you plant them, paying special attention to advice for growing garlic in your particular growing zone.

Garlic needs a well-drained soil of a sandy-clay nature that will crumble easily in your hand. Your garden spot should drain easily, because standing water will cause the bulbs to rot.

Rototill or spade your garden to work up the soil, mixing in well-composted manure as you go along. Once planted, garlic will root deep into the soil.
Garlic is a bulb, just like tulips, and should be planted in the fall approximately six weeks before the first major frost.

Garlic cloves need time in the mildly warm weather to germinate and allow roots to form. You may even see little green sprouts before hard winter weather hits and that’s okay. Garlic can endure sub-zero weather.

When you are ready to plant, crack the garlic bulb and separate the cloves.

1. Take off the outer parchment-like layer that surrounds each clove.

2. Choose the larger to medium cloves for planting and use the small cloves in your kitchen. Large cloves grow large garlic; small cloves that result in small garlic are hardly worth your time. So go for the most robust, firm and healthy-looking bulbs.

3. Inspect your garlic clove and make sure to plant the tip up and the base against the dirt. The tip should be approximately two inches into the earth.

4. Plant the cloves fairly close together, about 4 inches apart -- far enough for large garlic bulbs to form, and close enough to discourage weeds.

5. Plant in rows, leaving enough room between the rows for weeding and tending to your growing garlic plants.

If you buy several varieties of garlic for planting, be sure to keep the varieties separate. Label them so you’ll know which bulb is which. You may find that you prefer one variety over another, and you’ll want to ensure you plant that kind again next year. If you don’t label them, you won’t know which varieties are your favorites.

Working some well-composted manure into the soil just before planting, that will suffice as your first session of fertilizing. In the spring, fertilize again before May. The presence of too much nitrogen after May can decrease the size of the garlic bulb.

As you cut your grass during the final weeks of fall, pile your grass clippings on your garlic plants to protect them during the harsh winter months. This also will discourage weeds from growing up around your garlic the following spring.

If you live in a harsher, northern climate, you may want to purchase a bale of straw to spread on the ground where your garlic has been planted for further winter protection. This is the key to growing garlic you’ll be pleased with the following spring.

It’s important to water your garlic plantings well during the fall for healthy germination. Unless you live in snow country, you may even need to water occasionally during the winter.

Water just enough to keep your garden soil from becoming completely dried out. Then continue to water lightly through the spring when the green shoots are starting to show above the ground.

From about the middle of June until harvest time in early or mid-July, stop watering completely to let the garlic bulbs mature without becoming moldy.

In the spring, as the weeds begin making their appearance, pluck them out as soon as you notice them. Weeds will pull nutrients from your garlic bulbs and can result in a very poor crop. So as much as we all hate to weed, this task is a necessary part of growing garlic.

Most new garlic gardeners harvest their garlic too late. You want to harvest when the top half of the stalk and leaves turn brown.

Test by digging up one bulb. If that bulb is full, with its paper parchment and the outside cloves bulging through the parchment, your garlic is ready to harvest. Dig up all the garlic plants that are completely ready for harvest, shake off the dirt and take them indoors. Do not wash them with water.

Do not leave them in the sun or the bulbs will dry out and lose much of their flavor.

To store your garlic you will need to “cure” it first. After curing, it will store for approximately eight months.

For curing, take entire plants, including roots, bulb and stalk, and tie them in bunches of 12. It’s best if you can hang the plants in a well-ventilated space. If you don’t have room to hang your garlic, lay them loosely in an open, ventilated box and let them dry for about two weeks. Do not wash the garlic before curing. Water will cause mildew and will keep your garlic from curing properly.

Once the garlic is dry, chop off the tops to about two inches above the bulb and trim the roots off to the base of each bulb.

Store your garlic in an area with a stable temperature of approximately 60 to 70 degrees. A basement or pantry area is a good place for storing garlic.

Do not refrigerate your garlic as this will cause it to try taking root and growing shoots, which will shrink your bulbs and compromise the taste. Paper bags and open baskets are excellent for storing garlic. Never use any kind of plastic bags or containers for garlic storage.

Enjoy your garlic in a variety of ways. One great way to have the great taste of garlic always available is to make a garlic puree to store in your refrigerator for easy use while cooking.

1. Steam the garlic bulbs over boiling water in a vegetable steamer for 30 minutes, then separate and peel the parchment paper off the cloves.

2. Crush the soft cloves in a food processor and then add the oil and mix well.

3. Store in a tightly covered jar in the refrigerator.

4. Add a tablespoon of this puree to butter for spreading on garlic bread, or to make salad dressing, put on meat, or any other tasty uses.

This is an easy and convenient way to make great use of your garlic crop. Another is to mince or finely chop several bulbs and store your chopped garlic in a tightly sealed glass container in your refrigerator for use in soups and stews.

Be sure to keep enough garlic to plant the next season.
Once you have the varieties you like, you shouldn’t have to repurchase the garlic for growing again, unless you want a larger crop next time.

Once you have the yield and types of garlic that you enjoy, you’ll have a lifelong crop every year by repeating the process of growing garlic every fall.

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